I am pleased and proud to present a third version of our one-stop video presentation, “Coyotes As Neighbors” in Mandarin Chinese.

A huge thanks to the folks — every single one a community and/or professional volunteer — who spent hours working with me on this video project so that we could get useful coyote information out to people who are less comfortable with the English language. The video now can be seen and heard in English, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. Cantonese speakers, of course, will be able to read the Mandarin version even though the voice-over will be unintelligible to them.

My long-time friend Sylvia Chen, a special needs instructor with a Ph.D. in Neurolinguistics from Taiwan, spent many days interpreting and translating the text for the Mandarin version, minutely working out nuances of meaning for the Chinese speaking community. Zhu Yanan, from Beijing, only 23 years old and an international law student at USF — and a magician who practices “slight of hand”! — generously lent us his fabulous voice for the voice-over in Chinese and suggested I put some music into the background, which I did.

Two more long-time friends, Luz Andino, a Spanish teacher from Argentina at the San Francisco Friends School, and María José Phillips from Spain, with a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and adjunct professor in the Spanish Department at the University of San Francisco, worked many, many hours, separately, on the translation, and Rafa Unzueta Daly, a photojournalist from Chile who studied at USF, lent us his awesome voice for the Spanish voice-over.

Thank you all for giving so much of your valuable time and intense effort to this project. What an amazing and very special international group! I had fun working with you all and had fun putting the final work together in these videos! Congratulations to you all and thank you for supporting sharing of the environment with our wildlife!

The same issues are being faced by two separate communities, one to be solved by banking on people’s fears due to a lack of information and understanding, the other to be solved by giving folks the information they need to deal with any issues and to coexist peacefully. Seal Beach Council members have elected to shoot coyotes based on the emotional reactions of their constituents. It’s a quick-fix, knee-jerk reaction which falsely suggests that once the coyotes are wiped out all such issues will magically disappear. But coyotes are here to stay and other transient coyotes will soon fill the vacated niches of those slaughtered coyotes, birthrates will increase to compensate for the losses resulting in more coyotes than existed before the killings, and no issues will have been solved — and the blood bath will be perpetual.

Huntington Beach officials, on the other hand, for their management strategy, are providing facts and education to help folks learn and understand how to coexist with coyotes: the actual issues are solved with this approach whereby people and coyotes can exist together in an environment. This coexistence strategy is being adopted in cities across North America because it is effective and humane, and there is no coyote population rebound effect which often results if you kill these critters whereby you end up with more coyotes than you began with, and the same issues you began with.

The guidelines must be followed, but they are simple: don’t allow pets to roam free, keep dogs leashed in coyote areas and walk away from one if you see one, know how to shoo away a coyote, keep your distance, and don’t leave food out. Please view the video at the top of the coyoteyipps homepage and visit coyotecoexistence.com.

Coyotes may be seen at any time of the day — they are diurnal animals, however for convenience in urban areas they have arranged their daily schedules to avoid human activity, so in cities they are active mostly at night when we are not. They can do this because their eyes have many more rod receptors than the human eye has, so they can see in the dark: they have night-vision.

Coyotes, like dogs and cats, have retinas that are almost entirely composed of rods. They have a superabundance of rods with only few cones. Rods require less light to activate than cones, but they only allow you to see black and white; having lots of rods means great night vision. Humans, on the other hand, have predominantly cones and fewer rods. Cones require a lot of light to be fired up, but they allow color vision in bright daylight and they produce a very sharp vision. Cones do not respond to low light: under low light, humans rely on their lower number of rods. Note that for us, at dawn, dusk and nighttime, everything looks black and white, and not very clear or sharp, and we can’t see far.

Rods have a photosensitive pigment called rhodopsin which is particularly sensitive to low light. This pigment actually breaks down in strong light rendering it ineffective during the day, but at night, and when there is a superabundance of the rods as is the case with coyotes, the pigment is created faster than it breaks down. So these animals, out at night, can see pretty well even though you can’t, but they cannot see as sharply as those of us who use cones in daylight.

In addition to more rods, there is another factor which aids coyotes and other critters in their night vision. Have you ever noticed that if you take a photo of animals at night, their eyes shine? This is because they have a sort of “mirror”, called a tapetum lucidum, beneath their retina. This collects and re-emits light back into the retina, giving the rods a second chance to absorb visual information, enhancing their ability to see clearly in low light conditions.

Other adaptions allow a number of animals to function at night and during the daytime, such as slit-eye pupils which cats and foxes have. Their pupils can open completely during the night, yet the slit protects their eyes from bright daytime light. One of the adaptations of owl eyes — owls only function at night — is the huge size of their eyes: their eyes often take up a full half of the room in their skulls. The increased retinal surface of large eyes permits even more rods which can collect even more ambient light. Since owl eyes are so large and must fit tightly into their sockets, owls cannot swivel their eyes in their sockets like we can. Instead, they rotate their heads at the neck to focus on different things. They can rotate their necks a full 270º!

fox eyes have slits

owl eyes are huge

So, coyotes are diurnal and can see well at any time, whereas humans see best when there is plenty of light.

The interesting thing is that coyotes seem to know where human perception lies, that we can’t see well at night — I saw an example of this just a few days ago. As I watched this older coyote in the photo below, he became aware that I was watching, and he curled up in a ball to watch back. Coyotes do this often — they’ll watch back and be just as entertained as you are! It got darker and darker and pretty soon I could no longer make out any details about this fella lying in the grass — in my eyes, he became a barely perceptible colorless bump in the grass.

As he lay there, a group of five young women began approaching. They were not quiet and sedate, but animated and active. It was a Friday night and they were headed-out excitedly together. You would have thought the coyote would move — he was only 8 or so feet off the path. But as I watched, fascinated, the coyote remained exactly where he was, and the girls walked by without even seeing the coyote right next to them. The coyote didn’t move because he knew from experience that he would not be detected at all. I’m not sure whether the girls thought he was just a pile of dirt or a rock, or if they even noticed that. I approached them afterwards, and asked, and they said they had had no idea.

Coyotes are very aware of even small changes in their environment. Here, something big has happened and they are checking it out, looking around, spooking, “tasting” it and marking it. It was not until several days after the fire that they would even approach the area. As time goes on, the change will be accepted as the way things are, but initially this is never the case where coyotes are concerned.

I was not there to see the fire as it occurred, and probably neither were these coyotes, or they might have tried putting it out in its early stages! Hope Ryden in her book, God’s Dog, on page 144 refers to an incident she witnessed whereby a coyote put out a small fire (posted in May of 2011) which I’m reprinting here again, below:

“Did you know that coyotes put out fires?” The man asking the question had been smoking a cigarette, which is what probably prompted the question to Hope as they observed a coyote. The man proceeded to set an envelope on fire with his cigarette and tossed it in the coyote’s direction. The coyote quickly “pounced on it, and began drumming the flames with her forefeet while bouncing on and off the blaze until only the edges still had sparks”. The fire wasn’t out yet, so the coyote, with its shoulder, pushed the scrap of paper with embers against the ground, then stood up to examine it, and repeated this again. The fire was now out. Apparently all coyotes put out fires — small fires. Wow!!

With eyes closed at times to protect them, ears laid back flat against its head to protect them and to keep them from impeding a smooth forward progress, crouching down low and using its muzzle to push aside and create openings in the tall tangled-grasses and low-lying burred plants, this coyote made its way quickly across a large field, pretty much undetectable, aided by its superb camouflaged coloration.

We tend to forget that animals go through the same ailments and injuries that we do, only they don’t have medicines to help themselves out. I guess it really doesn’t matter, because nature seems to work pretty well. This coyote had an oozing eye infection which progressively got worse for a couple of days, but his immune system must be a healthy one because as of today, a week later, the eye looks like it’s back to normal. The watering eye may have been a minor hindrance for a few days — he may have missed a few hunting opportunities, but it probably did not slow him down in any major ways.

The eye may have been scratched either by a gopher the coyote had caught, or possibly by a twig he had brushed up against. I’m reminded that injuries can happen at any time to any of us by a friend who recently took her dog out for a hike along a rustic trail, and upon returning found that he had jabbed himself with a stick which went in a full two inches. The dog had to have surgery and stitches!

Imagine yourself as a young coyote in a perfect world. You live in an urban park which is ideal as a habitat — ideal beyond imagination: there are forests of trees with thick undergrowth for protection, a lake and streams with fresh water, open fields for hunting the overabundance of gophers and voles, there are snails and fruit to eat, there are dogs passing through which provide you with visual entertainment — even if some of them go after you, and you are protected by a city which encourages coexistence and does not allow trapping and killing of its urban wildlife. Pretty fantastic!

It’s true that nasty rumors and myths about coyotes spring up now and then which could result in harm to you, but most are short-lived and, more and more these days, the misinformation is brushed aside by a majority of park goers who have learned about coyote behavior and know that the sensationalist stories are all hype.

Family life, too, is ideal. You live with a father who has raised you and cared for you, and you have a sister who absolutely adores you as much as you adore her. You spend hours together, grooming each other or exuberantly playing all sorts of games you’ve invented for yourselves, such as chase and catch, tug of war, wrestling, steal the meal, jump over one another, hide and seek. Life is really a blast, and it’s been this way for the entire 16 months you’ve been alive to enjoy it, except the brief interlude immediately after Mom went missing — but you were young and that was soon forgotten because Dad was there to carry on for you. Things would have to be really, really bad for you even to consider such a thing as leaving.

happier times: joyfully playing with sibling

happier times: family outing

in happier times: joyfully playing with sibling, and a family outing

But life is not static: we all graduate to new levels and must go on at some point. Life is ever-changing and change is occurring now, not because of anything you’ve done, but because of who you are. You are a young male, and any territory only has room for one adult coyote male. Dad is feeling your coming-of-age and his instincts are becoming stronger, day by day, to push you out and away from his turf.

Recently, Dad has been charging at you, coming at you like a bullet to kick or nip you. You submit always and quickly, but that isn’t enough sometimes. More and more, you’ve been staying out of his way. You don’t join him and your sister so often, and you spend your time more and more alone. However, you have strong yearnings to be with your sister, to play with her, to exchange mutual grooming and care, after all, you are a very social creature, and family life has been an integral part of your life since birth. Recently, greetings with her have changed to include sniffing and having one’s underside sniffed — something new is going on.

times have changed: Dad bullies his son & puts him down on his back

Sister has found herself in the middle. By loving and playing with you, her brother, she’s inadvertently hindering her father, it seems. When she sees the antagonistic behavior of her father, she does her best to keep the peace, running interference, by interjecting herself between the two males to divert Dad’s attention by grooming him (Dad) or sticking her muzzle in his — and it works.After, or even before, taking care of Dad, she approaches you with her warm and affectionate greetings, and then she plays with you wholeheartedly, and Dad seems to accept that he must let her be this way, so you still hang in there, at least for now..

sister continues to adore brother and lets him know it

We all know how this is going to end, and it is definitely heartbreaking to watch the process. The Dad’s dispersing ritual is happening more and more frequently.

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Yesterday I saw the process again — it’s in full swing.

Dad and Daughter out together

Dad spots son hiding and trekking along

Dad rushes toward son, I hear a curt growl and flailing in the grass; I can see that the son has been put on his back

when all is over, son doesn’t flee but keeps his distance from Dad

Dad and Sis had been out foraging, and began heading off on a trek when the yearling male — her brother and his son — appeared out of the bushes. He had kept apart and away, but was very aware of them as revealed when he tried joining them on the trek, albeit tailing them at a considerable distance, possibly so as to avoid detection by Dad. There was such a pull to be with them. But the minute Dad saw him, he, Dad, launched himself in the male youngster’s direction, charging at him, punching with his snout, nipping, kicking and turning him over on his back.

This intense attack happened in tall grasses, which prevented me from taking clear photos. At the beginning of the encounter I heard an unusual, never heard before, short throaty snarl or gnarl. It was a warning of some sort. And I don’t know if the attacker or the defender made the noise because they were partially hidden from view. Besides the gnarly snarl, there was flailing in the grass, running off a little and more flailing in the grass. When they emerged enough for me to see them fully, Dad was walking away from male youngster, and youngster was keeping his distance from Dad but following, not fleeing. Young male desperately wanted to join sister and dad for the family trek.

Sis sees brother and Dad’s treatment of him from the distance

Sis passes right under Dad’s nose to get to her brother

Brother and Sister exchange nose touches

Dad attempts following her but stops short as she reaches her brother

they exchange body rubs

they exchange grooming

Sis then puts paws on brother’s back

Sister drapes herself over her brother

Sis, who had been standing far beyond Dad, looked back to see her brother sitting beyond Dad, and came running over to him joyfully to greet him. She brushed right past Dad, straight toward her brother and these siblings engaged in a long greeting, body contact, nose and paw touches and finally grooming. Dad looked on and did nothing. Sis wasn’t taking sides, she was just being “Sis in the middle.”

Sis runs towards Dad

Sis looks back, inviting brother along

Sis grooms Dad to reconfirm her bond to him

Young male keeps his distance, but comes along on the trek

When the warm sibling greetings were over, Sis ran to catch up with Dad, looking back invitingly for her brother to come along. She loves her father as she does her brother. She approached Dad and engaged in grooming him while he looked back over his shoulder, glaringly at the younger male, his son: “do not come”. But the male youngster did come, with Sis encouraging him. Sis no doubt sensed the tremendous tension between the males in her family probably without comprehending any of it, and so, possibly in an attempt to dissipate it, she dashed off as if in hot pursuit of prey, enticing the others to join her and in the process to forget their strife. It kind of worked because they now were concentrating on other things, on hunting in the forest.

Then, sirens sounded and they all howled together — was the spat over? I don’t think so. Dad then walked on, all alone, without being joined by either of the two youngsters. That is the last I saw of him that evening. Had he lost the skirmish? Even if he had, he won’t loose the battle — he’s a five year old mature male, and his son is just a 16 month old ingenue.

Dad takes off alone

Sis watches Dad leave without joining him

Young male looks around — can’t seem to find Sis

Sister reaches brother, they greet and she again puts her paws on him, and they go off into the dusk where I can no longer see them

Sis went off hunting, and young male was left standing on a path looking for her. Not being able to locate her, he headed off in a direction opposite from the one his father took, looking dejected as revealed by his slow pace and lowered head. But Sis must have had her brother in mind. She picked up his scent and caught up with him. There was warm body contact, nose touches and wiggles, and Sis put her paws on his back again — was she showing who was boss? Or was this just her way of showing affection — this last is what appears to be the case. It now was dark so I had to leave. I had witnessed an episode of a dispersion process, where a parent forces out a youngster from his territory.

Young Male will eventually have to leave. But I wondered if Sis would stay on the territory with Dad, or if she would go with her brother? I wondered if Dad’s attacking the male youngster would in fact have repercussions of driving out Sis as well. I’ve already seen where both youngsters now flinch in anticipation of Dad’s antagonism: the young male from being on the receiving end and Sis from simply observing it.

This dispersion process has been going on for some time — it’s recently reached a crescendo. I’ll post if things change.